A New Zealand program designed to boost the country’s engineering workforce has hit its target of producing 500 graduates a year, a full year ahead of schedule.
Initially set up in 2014, the Government’s Engineering – Education to Employment (e2e) program promotes engineering and technology careers to students.
The Tertiary Education Commission (TEC) has confirmed 511 graduates from priority engineering courses in 2016, for a total of 2151 graduates in 2016.
Minister of Tertiary Education, Skills and Employment Paul Goldsmith says the program’s public awareness campaign has already lifted the profile of engineering from 10th to 3rd place in potential students’ career considerations.
“It’s very pleasing to see all the hard work by Engineering e2e, Futureintech, tertiary institutions, engineering professional organisations and others has really paid off,” Goldsmith says.
“Engineers help build the infrastructure that makes up our modern world. New Zealand needs more engineers to meet the growing demand for construction and infrastructure.”
While Goldsmith says the additional graduates are a step in the right direction, there is still much work to be done.
“We still have quite a bit of work to do to address the balance of graduates across Diploma of Engineering (Level 6), Bachelor of Engineering Technology (Level 7) and Bachelor of Engineering (Hons) (Level 8) qualifications,” he explains.
“Our big challenge, supported by employer feedback, is growing enrolments at institutes of technology, which specialise in level 6 and 7 qualifications.
“So, I am pleased to see Engineering e2e is working closely with the ITP sector, and with engineering professional bodies to really focus on employer engagement to grow the pipeline of work-ready engineers.”
Engineering e2e has recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding with IPWEA NZ and IPWEA is collaborating with e2e on its sponsored degrees pilot programme which is being funded by the TEC.
Sponsored degrees would enable both on-the-job training and the completion of a Level 7 qualification in engineering, like the Bachelor of Engineering (Technology), and are particularly relevant for rapidly changing, high-tech industries.